1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle hood moving device configured to absorb shock at the time of a pedestrian colliding with a front hood, and a pedestrian protection apparatus for a vehicle configured to prevent a pedestrian who has collided with a vehicle and fallen onto a front hood from falling from the front hood, and a pedestrian protection apparatus for a vehicle capable of absorbing shock of a pedestrian who has collided with a vehicle, using a front hood.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the event that a traveling vehicle has collided with a pedestrian, the pedestrian may have secondary collision on the hood upper face of the vehicle body front. Therefore, heretofore, at the time of collision of a pedestrian with a vehicle, there has been performed absorption of shock at the time of the pedestrian colliding with a vehicle front hood by letting the hood bound (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-1539).
Now, examples of shock that a pedestrian who has collided with a vehicle receives include secondary collision against the hood, and shock received by falling onto the road surface from above the hood.
Therefore, a hood control device configured to prevent a pedestrian from falling on the road surface from above the hood has been developed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-38955). This device lets the front edge of the hood bound to form space to absorb shock in the event of a pedestrian having collided with the vehicle, and then lets the rear side of the hood bound to form space to absorb shock when the pedestrian falls onto the hood, and further lets the front edge of the hood bound to incline the hood to the backward side, thereby preventing the pedestrian from falling on the road surface.
These existing devices configured to move the hood have been provided to a vehicle body, and a cylinder configured to perform expansion/contraction using gas pressure or gunpowder explosion has been employed, but many components are disposed in the engine room, and accordingly, space for disposing the cylinder within the engine room is restricted. Also, movement of the hood is restricted to the expansion/contraction direction of the cylinder, or only inclination according to letting only part of the hood bound. Therefore, there may be cases where the danger of a pedestrian who has fallen onto the hood falling from the hood, may not be prevented.
Also, the existing devices move the hood by expanding/contracting the cylinder, and accordingly, movement of the hood is restricted to only the corresponding vertical direction and inclination, and movement of the hood may be insufficient for preventing a pedestrian from falling onto the road surface from above the hood. Also, the time in which a pedestrian's collision with a vehicle, secondary collision on the hood, and falling onto the road surface from above the hood occurs is very short, and accordingly, expansion/contraction of the cylinder according to gas pressure has a problem in responsiveness. On the other hand, with expansion/contraction of the cylinder according to gunpowder explosion, complicated movement of the hood is difficult.
Also, in the event of employing a mechanism using magnetic force according to a magnet such as a permanent magnet or electromagnet or the like as a mechanism to let the hood bound, iron sand or dust may be absorbed by magnetic force at the time of operation of the mechanism to let the hood bound, resulting in a fitting portion being blocked with the iron sand or dust, which may affect operation, and uncomfortable sound may occur. Also, in the event of employing an electromagnet, when there is a strong electromagnetic field in the vicinity, this electromagnetic field may also adversely affect operation of the electromagnet which is an actuator.